Learn how to refashion this outdated embroidered dress into a cute dress in this upcycle tutorial

I bought this dress brand new but it was from a clearance section and they only had one left and it wasn’t in my size. I absolutely love embroidered clothes because as a seamstress, I appreciate the extra details and the TLC that goes into the clothing since I know how long that must have taken to embroider. So I snatched it without a second thought and then completely forgot about it. But last week as I was organizing my sewing room, I came upon this dress and got so excited! Refashioning outdated or ill-fitting clothes into new feels just like when you buy a new clothing item you love, but even better! Because you have that sense of accomplishment and pride into your finished art piece.

Watch the video tutorial below or keep scrolling to see a picture tutorial.

Tutorial:

Fold the end over and sew all the way down the strip. Then use a safety pin to flip it inside out, hem the ends and you are done!

BEFORE/AFTER

I only had one hour to complete this refashion in order to take photos of the transformation before the sun went down. like this shoot that happened in front of my garage, taken by no other photographer than my 10 year old daughter that I bribed and paid $3 to. What can I say, I am all about that fancy life!

Can I tell you something personal to me that I’ve only shared with a very few people? Well, until now that is, HELLO! Many people of the internet!

15 years ago, I had the most vivid dream that I walked into a beautiful clothing store that was simple, clean and elegant. As I touched the clothes that were hanging, the beautiful, soft fabrics brushing against my fingers, I admired at the intricate details of each design that I’ve never seen before and thought, ‘What store is this? I must know.”

Then I woke up. I had no idea what that dream meant and went about my day but ever since that day 15 years ago, I frequently started to get vivid, detailed images of beautiful clothing that I’ve never seen anywhere just pop up in my head out of nowhere. I’m not even thinking about clothes, fashion or sewing, and the vivid image pops up in my head. And I know exactly what the fabric should feel like, I know the exact design of the fabric, the color, every detail. And they’re always, always modest.

In fact, I just had one before writing this post. It was a flowy, feminine, and elegant dress perfect for Spring/Summer.

Now only if I can somehow just find a whole team of people to start a clothing line where I only have to give them my vision and they make everything else happen and run the whole business for me. Because in the end, I just want a simple life. And all of that stuff overwhelms me and doesn’t appeal to me.

If you look at all of my refashions from the past few years, this is the “before” face I make. It’s the face that’s too timid to make any other face ‘cause of a few saying how dare I be so disrespectful to plus sized, when I’m already stealing their size(this dress is size M, bought brand new at a store), mocking how ugly & big it is.

But I just wanted the before/after comparison to look more dramatic. So I wear no makeup, make a weird face wearing slippers(whether in size XS or large), then in the after, I’m all done up for the “transformation”, like the before/after makeup ones where they’re frowning & then smiling glamorously.

I hope you know that I have no ill-will or hatred in my heart. Ever. I have never hated anyone. I cannot live with an ounce of hatred in my heart, my soul just can’t take it.

I hope you know that I appreciate you so much & care deeply about you. While I don’t care about the # of followers, I care deeply about whether I bring positivity into your life or not. I want to be good & do good things. That, I care very deeply, as it is my biggest goal & purpose in life.

I don’t get many negative comments, you’re all so sweet to me. So getting 3-4 negative ones in the past 2 months have made me more annoyed than it should & I started caring more than I should.

‘When you give too many f’s – when you care about everyone & everything – you will feel that you’re perpetually entitled to be comfortable and happy at all times, that everything is supposed to be just exactly the way you want it to be. This is sickness, and it will eat you alive. You will see every adversity as an injustice, every challenge as a failure, and every disagreement as a betrayal.’ – Mark Manson

So I’m grateful for the few negative comments, as it helps me to better control my thoughts on where I should focus it on, which is to choose love. Always choose love, light & goodness. In myself and in others, whether I agree with their actions or not because that doesn’t matter. What matters is love & kindness.

p.s. thank you so much to all your DM’s, I got over a thousand! You’re the best. I can’t reply to each one but please know that I read each one & appreciate them.💗

Once in awhile, I make clothes from scratch, instead of refashioning. See what I made for my Holiday dress this year!

This DIY project was created on behalf of JOANN.

I wanted to make a classic red dress that I could wear for Christmas this year and found the most perfect pattern and fabric from JOANN. I also wanted the dress to be versatile enough to wear for other special occasions such as Valentine’s and the 4th of July, as well as to church or weddings, or wherever I fancy. When I saw this Vogue pattern, I knew it would be perfect for what I had envisioned.

The pattern was well designed and it’s a beautiful pattern. My only problem was with the arm hole pattern. I cut the pattern and followed instructions perfectly but when I tried it on, the arm opening was so tight and small, I couldn’t even lift up my arms. So I had to seam-rip the sleeves, then I cut the arm hole opening a lot wider to match the length of the sleeve opening. This part took me a good extra 45 mins. so if you use this pattern, be aware. Make sure the arm hole opening matches with the sleeve opening.

Other than that, I really enjoyed following this pattern, it’s been a very long time, I would say at least 5 years since I sewed a dress from scratch using a pattern and surprisingly, I loved every process! Refashioning doesn’t require as much precision and detail as a dress like this so I learned a lot and I plan on sewing a lot more with patterns.

So here is the dress! The dress is a cherry red color but in these photos it looks more orange-red.

Estimated time: 5-6 hours

Budget: $30-$40

Skill level: Intermediate

Let me know what you think of this dress! As I stated in the supplies, I bought this fabric from the home decor section since I wanted a heavier, thicker material for this dress. I am excited to wear this to church for our Christmas program!

If you post a project on your Instagram that’s inspired by my tutorials, tag me at @sarahtyau in both the captions and the photo to be featured on my Instagram stories!

Hello! My name is Sarah and I am so happy to have you here! Here you'll find DIY sewing, DIY home building & decor, honest and vulnerable posts of motherhood and snippets of my family. We are building our dream house and will update you regularly on our whole process from start to finish and I am also starting a mother-daughter sewing series. So I hope you stay awhile!